Bulletin - February 21, 2012 via Hawaii and Guatemala!

President Joan took the reins at precisely 12:15. In her preliminary comments, she advised that John Edgell’s mother had passed away. She had expressed condolences on behalf of the club and a condolence card was circulated at the meeting.

Joan advised our Mexico project is complete and would be formally completed in a visit next month by the Royal Oak club (our partner club on the project). Pictures will be on our website. Joan also advised as we approach End Polio Day in Rotary’s calendar, that this year for the first time there were no new reported cases of polio in India. New cooperative efforts were also underway between India, Afghanistan and Pakistan to take further steps together to eradicate polio. The end is in sight!

A rousing, bifurcated version of O Canada was commenced with the request to “Tom” whereupon Tom C leapt into song and Tom L leapt on the piano (almost at the same time). All ended well!!

Announcements:

A special presentation was conducted by Heather and Leslie. They acknowledged the incredible support provided for the Merrython by Jenny and Janet from the rec centre. A bouquet of flowers was presented to each with thanks from the club for supporting a very successful event. Heather also led a discussion on the fluctuating lunch crowd and the difficulties it was creating for the kitchen staff planning. As a trial, a request was made to all members to let Lynne Murray know each week if you are planning to attend or not and whether you are planning to bring guests.  Heather will follow up this request by an e-mail to everyone in the club.

Peter reminded people that tickets were on sale for the Spring Concert. Everyone please consider buying tickets and inviting friends, colleagues and family. We now have some sponsors and are looking for more. Sponsorship levels range from $100 to $750+. The concert is March 24^th at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mary’s the Virgin Church on Elgin Road (off Oak Bay Ave.). Tickets are $25 ($22.50 for seniors and students). Tickets are available from David Sills, Bob Schelle, Heather, Pablo and Peter. We need help from everyone to sell out. For people interested in sponsoring, please contact anyone on the team above.

Irvin from the Saanich club advised people that his club was conducting a flower sale on April 4^th. You can order flowers from their club; they are $17.00 and will be delivered anywhere in Greater Victoria.

Guests and Visiting Rotarians: Peter misplaced his list of visitors so apologizes for the oversight of missing our visitor from Australia and Barry Mutter’s guest (and others I may have missed!).

Celebrations Master (aka Fines Maestro):

Jack Petrie led a spirited assault on the wallets of everyone present! Starting off with, “What special day is it today?” No one had the right answer (start of Mardi Gras!) so everyone dipped in for a dollar! He then proceeded to nail people for talking; Renate for missing being a greeter; and Joan for her hats. Audaciously, he enrolled everyone into the fining game by creating the role of “Fines Master Squealer” – a fining free-for-all ensued – Dallas for showing off her tanned legs, Tom L because Jack makes him feel good, Jim F telling a Newfie story about tees, balls and the things the folks from Ford think about, and so it went for enthusiastically wresting cash from the crowd! Tav won the draw and offered to buy everyone a drink (no maybe that was just wishful thinking!)

Guest Speaker: David Westler introduced our guest speaker, Nancy Gilbert.

Nancy is a water and sanitation expert and project management for a Rotary WASRAG (Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group). She has been involved in several projects around the world. She is also a member of the West shore Rotary club. Nancy advised us that one of the primary objectives of WASRAG is to reduce the # of people who do not have access to clean water and sanitation by > 50% by 2015. They are on track for achieving the clean water objective. They are woefully behind on the sanitation objective. Nancy advised that projects often fail after 5 years. People don’t have the ongoing money, training, or a strategy for sustainability for many of the sanitation projects. Rivers in remote areas are often the highway, the water source, the food source, bathing and hygiene source and the sewage receiver. One in four people in the world do not have access to suitable sanitation. Big challenges for projects include: a) no system for learning model practices; b) don’t know what each other are doing; c) no system for sharing learning. Rotary’s response is a game plan called “Start With Water” to build sustainable projects. Elements include: a) establish a WASRAG team in each region (including ours); b) develop PPP’s (Program, Planning and Performance teams); c) develop alternative funding sources to augment the foundation; d) create an interactive website for sharing best practices, finding project status and results, communicate between projects.

Nancy gave us several examples of initiatives working, particularly on the Niger Delta.

People can join the Wasrag for this region for $25 and can contact Nancy at nancy.gilbert@wasrag.org

Neil Madsen thanked Nancy and pointed out that in Victoria we can’t be smug about water. “We have a first world supply of water and third world sanitation system dumping into the straits!” A Rotary mug was presented to enjoy our clean water supply.

Jim F and Joan finished with a rotary moment, a YouTube of street musicians, who have polio, singing and playing a moving song of the sadness, disruption and pain of having polio. [Note from Tricia: Not sure if this is the same YouTube video, but I found it online and thought it definitely worth watching. Peter's notes said the video was from Nigeria, but these performers are a group of street musicians who are paraplegic polio victims living in and around the grounds of Kinshasa Zoo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.]

Meeting closed with Tom L leading God Save the Queen at precisely 1:30

Bulletin - February 15, 2012

President Joan called the meeting promptly to order at 12:15 p.m. Our National Anthem was followed by an invocation by Dallas Chapple. In keeping with the Valentine’s Day theme, she asked everyone to perform a random act of love and kindness thus creating goodwill – a very Rotarian sentiment.

After lunch, Don O’Coffey welcomed our two guests, Harriet Graham (Batya & Dave) and Diane Macpherson (Tav).

There was a long list of announcements. Eugen started with his Ted Harrison publication. If you are interested in this, please chat to Eugen.  Announcements were made regarding two club fundraisers – please support them. Firstly, Pablo and his quartet are performing on 24^th March; and secondly, the Tuscan Dinner is on 28^thApril. David Maxwell  appealed for donors interested in providing or financing a gift basket (value $75). Corey thanked those who helped out at the successful event at the Monterey Centre.

Jack Petrie acted as Fines Master. With his usual sense of humour and fun, he opened with an oblique reference to an exploding cigar and love in the darkness (OK, don’t go there!).  He noted that Mark Bedford had to leave early but still had time to be at the dessert tray. He fined Dallas for looking better than “really good” and also Batya and David for lying around in Mexico. Eugen and Jim Force gave happy dollars and Neil Madsen made a generous contribution in recognition of his own birthday.

Pablo introduced President, Joan Peggs who gave us an interesting overview of her Rotary Fellowship Exchange to India. Power Point photos were capably edited by David Westover.

The exchange was from 9^th – 23^rd January and Joan’s hosts were from Rotary District 3060.  After an exhausting flight through London to Mumbai (Bombay), Joan arrived at the station at 5:40 a.m. and boarded a train leaving at 6:20 a.m. The carriages were packed with passengers but despite this, refreshments were served including a large bottle of water.  As she rode through the city, Joan noticed many fires in the tenements where people were trying to keep warm.  Many others were setting up their markets for the day’s business. 

The journey took them through Vapi, which is the home of Perry Bamji and R.I. President, Kalyan Banerjee, with Surat being the destination. Surat, Baroda, Nadiad, Bhavnagar and Rajkot were the communities visited. The visiting Rotarians were hosted by five families, three of them being extended families. Their occupations were either in the professions or in business and they were clearly well-to-do.

Rotary had a significant presence in the community and Joan showed us photos of buildings that were the headquarters of individual clubs and had the names of the clubs over the front door. Visiting Rotarians reviewed many of the local club projects which included an eye clinic, an intensive care unit and a dialysis facility (Surat), an engineering school near Baroda, a school for the deaf with 325 students in Nadiad. In Bhawanagar is Ray of Hope, a school for impoverished students where Rotarians are providing furnishings, toilets and water purification. Children are encouraged to attend and academic results appear to be excellent.  Also viewed were a library, a senior’s home and an orphanage in Rajkot.

Joan had some interesting cultural revelations as well. The traffic is intense with horns blaring and vehicles travelling at speed with frequent fast stops. Minor fender benders seem tolerated – just carry on!  The food was generally excellent and most people are vegetarians.  Varieties of chapattis, roti and dahl were served with little rice. Many people were of the Jain belief system and eat nothing that grows below the ground. Joan also enjoyed chikoo juice which was served like a milkshake. Families created ground flours, spices, curds and butter in their own kitchens. All the families had servants who came in to the home for specific tasks, whether to clean or prepare meals. The visitors were also treated to singing, dancing and art displays as well as preparations for a kite festival and fireworks. They visited a diamond cutting business, a Jain temple at Palitana and another at Hastgiri.

Visiting an inoculation clinic was clearly one of the highlights and Joan was able to administer inoculations for infants against typhoid, hepatitis, TB and polio. While not sophisticated, this clinic had a doctor and a nurse.

Jim Force thanked Joan for her presentation and for sharing her experience with us. It was most interesting and well presented.  Note that a return visit by Rotarians from India is to take place in May of this year.  Those interested in participating should contact Joan Peggs.

The meeting closed with the singing of God Save the Queen.

February 7 meeting - Oak Bay Rotary

Heather reported that the March 24^th Concert was looking for sponsors. The program will start at 2:30 on the 24^th.

Eugen requested an expression of interest in the book ‘Walking with Ted Harrison’. He also announced the availability of posters Ted prepared when joining the club in 1993.

John Jordan announced that he was leaving for Rwanda in the next few days to visit and participate in projects underway there.

Celebrations Master

Jack Petrie served as Celebrations Master.  He reported that today, February 7, was the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Rotary International Centres on Conflict Resolution.  Assorted general fines were levied. Happy and sad dollars came from Joan Peggs, Corey Burger, Bill Burns, Heather Aked, Leslie Rogers-Warnock and Mark Bedford. David Warnock won the draw.

The Speakers

District 5020 Governor David Stocks introduced the speakers.  Christie Johnson, who has played an instrumental role in the development of the Malawi Girls School, made some introductory remarks covering the background of the school’s evolution.  The principal speaker was Henry Mdyetseni, coordinator of the APU (Atsikana Pa Ulendo) Girls' School in Malawi, which our club has supported for several years. Henry began by pointing out the importance of professional knowledge and expertise to the school: the need for good teachers; financial control; and the need for the orderly and integrated development of physical facilities.

He showed the site plan and the placement of the 11 buildings that have been put in place over the last five years. He reported that in construction work, good environmental practices have been followed.  Oak Bay Rotary has been especially helpful in providing water systems. The water tank capacity is now 10 thousand litres.

Henry discussed the impact of the project on the communities surrounding the school.  The school provides 70 jobs in an area of subsistence farming. It has in place a ‘buy local’ policy wherever possible. 

He next pointed out the importance of role models for the girls, giving the example of female teachers, something very rare in Malawi’s government schools. The school is also pleased with the superior academic performance of the students.

Christie added to the information provided by Henry, pointing out that there is an 18 month interval between the time that students graduate from the school and their entry into university, assuming they qualify for admission. This is a serious problem and the school is considering the establishment of a teachers' training college.

Mary Canty thanked the speakers.

Oak Bay Rotary at Oak Bay Bistro

REPORTED BY RENATE GIBBS; PHOTO BY JACK PETRIE

Today we celebrated the 5th Tuesday with a luncheon served by the amazing staff at Oak Bay Bistro!  It was President Joan's first week back since returning from India.  A number of other Rotarians also had January travel stories to share as we gathered over two  long tables for 32 members and guests!

 

The guests were visiting Rotarian Walter Moore and his wife Kate from the Rotary Club of Berry-Gerringong (District 9710) in New South Wales, Australia.

 

Jill Croft was the guest of Tom Croft; Jean Lawrie was the guest of Peter Lawrie; and Anke was the guest of Pablo Diemecke.  Mary Canty's grandson Brian kept the family numbers up as well. 

Eugen Bannerman shared his work to compile a book of photos and artful creations of our very own Ted Harrison. It was hot off the press and Ted will be paging through it soon!  Ted's health is gradually improving and we hope to see him at a meeting in the future weeks.  After a long absence we were also graced by having David Phillip share his wit and commentary with us today.